52Frames Complementary Colors

I thought I knew what complementary colors were. For a weekly photo challenge it has a particular definition. So I had to look up “color wheel” to better understand what it meant. The main opposing colors are red/green; purple/yellow; orange/blue. Before I figured that out we had spent a couple of days taking photos of things that were not in that definition. And even after I thought I got it, it seemed difficult to find something that really worked. We were walking though the US Botanic garden and the purple and yellow cabbages looked perfect. They weren’t crisp colors, but the contrast was definitely there after a bit of editing. There was another cabbage that looked okay, but the yellow wasn’t bright enough. Then we walked down to the Hirshhorn Museum and the orange birdhouse against the blue background looked right. In front of the Arts and Industries building was a sculpture of sorts at the entrance made up of red and green plastic square pieces. That might work. I wasn’t happy with my options so we decided to take a ride to old town Alexandria where there might be a row house that fit the bill. There wasn’t. But what we did find were red and green shutters that stood out from the rest. After putting the images on my business Facebook page and Instagram the shutters seemed to be the winning image. But there was something more artistic about the cabbage, and besides, my husband liked that one more. As far as I was concerned the cabbage and the shutters were equal, so I posted the cabbage. I have a feeling I missed the boat this week. After all, the idea isn’t to “win” the weekly challenge, but just get out and look for something. But I have to admit that when an item gets noticed, it feels good. 

Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls

If you are Polish, you probably like cabbage rolls. Even if you are not, cabbage is a great food item. Pierogi with cabbage, sauerkraut, onion, and hamburger are great; cabbage soup is even better; but stuffed cabbage is the best. Mom used to make them with a bit of bacon on the top for flavor before putting them in the oven. I always added ketchup on mine. I found an unstuffed cabbage recipe on Facebook a long time ago and we thought it was time to make it for dinner last night. We picked up a small cabbage at the grocery store so we were set. My husband always adds things that aren’t called for in the recipe whereas I always follow the instructions. Rather than plain diced tomatoes we added Italian style with basil and oregano; he likes baked beans so those were added to his portion after the fact. We were not disappointed with the results. The best part is that it is so easy to make and there are always leftovers. The next time we will make some rice and pour the contents on that since stuffed cabbage always had rice in our house. With the weather getting colder this is the perfect dinner - even if you are not Polish. 

Cabbage Soup

We love soup - and we have a recipe my mom sent to us many years ago. Being Polish, anything made with cabbage is good. So we got a small head of cabbage with the last batch of groceries and thought it was a good time to dig out the recipe. It’s one of the rare times that I help my husband make dinner. He is the cook in the house. My role is more reading the ingredients and instructions rather than actually do any cooking. He usually just puts things together without instructions and it always tastes wonderful. So we started out cutting up the cabbage - making sure to cut out the stem part, cut up the potatoes, and then start the process. You can literally put anything in this soup so we got out the leftover vegetables, and the called for baked beans. We like a tomato flavor so we added some spicy mild diced tomatoes. We had leftover frozen chicken broth, and added in four cups total by using two more cans. Then a little pepper. It doesn’t take long for everything to cook - twenty minutes and then ten more for the vegetables, after the bay leaf is removed. Add to that some naan garlic bread and a salad. It was delicious! My Polish cook book has all kinds of things stuffed in to it. One of these days I need to get refamiliarized with it all. Next up will be unstuffed cabbage rolls - another favorite. It’s the season for soup and comfort food - something we need right about now. 

Stove Top Stuffed Cabbage

I haven’t had them for a very long time. Stuffed cabbage was a staple in our house when we were growing up. My husband is the cook in our house and he has made some wonderful cabbage soup. So we thought we might try making the stuffed cabbage in the frying pan on the stove top rather than the long way of boiling the cabbage to get the leaves, stuffing the leaves with the hamburger and rice, putting a bit of bacon on the top, and then put it all in the oven. I was occupied doing other things while my husband was off concocting this recipe. A bit of hamburger with onions, cut pieces of cabbage, and a lot of white rice. What I didn’t realize was he was using a lot of cabbage near the core - which may be okay in soup, but not for a “casserole” cabbage roll. Then, he added in some turkey lunch meat because there wasn’t a lot of hamburger to begin with. When he served it up it looked okay, but for the first time in forty years, dinner tasted awful. I was embarrassed to tell him, but he can handle the truth. The turkey ruined it, although the cabbage was on the “hard” side - very unlike the real cabbage rolls that are soft and transparent when they are baked. So much for the experiment. That just goes to show you that sometimes you just need to follow the recipe - and don’t add turkey. 

US Botanical Garden Vegetable Garden

We haven’t planted our usual cucumber and tomato plants this year. It’s been sort of weird weather and too much rain. However when we walk through the Bartholdi garden of the US Botanical Garden, it feels like we are on a farm with a huge vegetable garden. Last year the garden was not as lush or filled in because it had just undergone a complete update. This is the first year it is completely intact and beautifully landscaped. The funny thing is the distinguished backgrounds when you look in any direction - the US Capitol building; the Smithsonian American Indian Museum; the House of Representatives Building; and the Disabled Veterans Memorial. Last week there were two wheelbarrows filled with just picked huge radishes. Today we walked by several varieties of lettuce - Seeded Simpson, Red Sails, Deer Tongue, Monte Carlo; corn, cabbage, okra, pepper, tomato, and a whole host of interesting flowers fill the place. The fountain is on and the setting is absolutely lovely. As my husband said - if you can walk through this place and not feel good there must be something really wrong with you. It is one of our favorite places. Too bad we can’t pick the produce! 

Polska and Mrs. T's Pierogi and Chocolate

Mrs. T's pierogi come from Pennsylvania and Polska pierogi come from California. We always liked Mrs. T's - especially the potato with feta and spinach. My husband also adds onions to the mix and they are delicious! Of course, nothing could ever replace my mom's original hand made and time consuming pierogi that we always had at Christmas. But while we were at Safeway, I noticed another brand called Polska foods. The saurkraut, cabbage, and mushroom item looked quite promising - and it was. My husband added a bit of ham bits to that mix. Because they were so good, we got another package along with the potato and cheese version. Why am I dreaming of pierogi? Today, we went out to lunch with a good friend who just returned from a trip to Poland, Italy and England. And she brought with her a Polish chocolate/orange treat as a keepsake for us. Because it is written in Polish, I can't read the brand. All I can say is that they too were delicious. It's hard to believe Polish was my first language. That sure didn't last very long. But the craving to eat polish food luckily never disappeared. Thank goodness for frozen food because it's tough to find a polish restaurant here in DC. Milwaukee and Chicago were much different - but we don't live there anymore.